Guest Post: We Are Not Powerless: Resisting Financial Feudalism

It's comforting to think "I can't do anything to resist the Central State and its financial Plutocracy," but it's not true. There are many of acts of resistance you can pursue in your daily life; here are 12 perfectly legal ones.

That we are powerless is one of the key social control myths constantly promoted by the Status Quo. What better way to keep the serfs passive than to reinforce a belief in their powerlessness against the expansive Central State and its financial feudalism?

But we are not powerless. Our complicity gives the aristocracy its power. Remove our complicity and the aristocracy falls.

The pathway of dissent is to resist financial feudalism and its enforcer, the expansive Central State. Here are twelve paths of resistance any adult can legally pursue in the course of their daily lives:

1. Support the decentralized, non-market economy. The core ideology of consumerism and financialization is that non-market assets and experiences have no status or financial value. This includes social capital, meals with friends, projects done cooperatively with friends, home gardens and thousands of other decentralized activities that cannot be financialized into centralized market transactions. Identity and social status are established in the non-market economy by collaboration, sharing, conviviality and generosity. Decentralized generally means localized; farmers markets are examples of local market economies where the transactions are in cash (so banks can’t skim transactions fees) and the money stays in the local economy rather than flowing to some distant concentration of capital.

If you start valuing non-market assets and experiences as the most important markers of high status, you are resisting both financialization and consumerism.

Top-down centralized “solutions” imposed by the Central State are the problem, not the solution, as they further the concentration of wealth and power into unstable monocultures. Stop looking to overly complex “reforms” and centralized solutions to unsustainable systems and start exploring decentralized, localized solutions that bypass both the Central State and its financial aristocracy.

2. Stop participating in financialization. Financialization is the insidious imperative of the financial aristocracy that seeks to turn every interaction into a financial transaction that can be charged a fee and all assets into financialized instruments that can be sold for immensely profitable transaction fees.

As the finances of local governments implode under the weight of their protected fiefdoms, many are heeding the siren song of financialization as a temporary (and inevitably disastrous) “fix” to their structural insolvency. For example, the revenue stream from parking meters is financialized into an asset that is sold to a private corporation. When parking fees double, the residents of the city have no recourse via democracy or petition, as the meters in their city are now “owned” by a distant concentration of capital that can double late fees, charge outrageous transaction costs, etc., at will.

This is how financialization inevitably transitions into financial tyranny.

The erosion of America’s middle class financial security has several structural causes, but chief among them was the financialization of the housing market. This led to a bubble of credit and housing valuations and the widespread extraction of equity for consumption—the classic “windfall” that financialization always produces in its first toxic blush. Mortgage debt doubled from $5 trillion to $10 trillion in the bubble, and now America’s indentured homeowners “own” negative equity of $4 trillion. That is, the difference between the market value of the homes they ostensibly “own” and the mortgages they took on to buy the homes is negative $4 trillion.

3. Redefine self-interest to exclude debt-servitude and dependence on consumerism and the Central State. Unless you are long retired and have no other option, minimize reliance on the State. Reliance on the State weakens the correlation between sustained effort and gain, so the work ethic and entrepreneurism both atrophy as they no longer offer competitive advantages in a system where bread and circuses are guaranteed by the State.

4. Act on your awareness that the nature of prosperity and financial security is changing. Dependence on centralized concentrations of power (Wall Street and the Central State) is now an extremely risky wager that what is demonstrably unsustainable will magically become sustainable at some distant point in time via pixie dust or the intervention of aliens from Alpha Centuri. Security flows from resilience, self-reliance, decentralized, diversified sources of income and abundant social capital.

5. Stop supporting distant concentrations of capital that subvert democracy by using their gargantuan profits to buy the machinery of State governance and regulation. For example, stop watching broadcast programming owned by the six global media corporations that control the vast majority of the media/marketing complex.

Close your accounts with Wall Street investment firms and the five “too big to fail” banks that dominate the mortgage, credit and debt markets in the U.S. If you need such an account to transact your business, then maintain low balances so the banks cannot “sweep” your capital for their own use every day.

6. Stop supporting the debt-and-leverage based financial aristocracy. Liquidate all debt as soon as possible, take on no new debt except for short periods of time, explore localized or “crowd-sourced” private-capital loans that exclude the banks and limit the number of financial transactions that enrich the banks and Wall Street.

7. Transfer your assets out of Wall Street and into local enterprises or assets that do not enrich and empower Wall Street.

8. Refuse to participate in consumerist status identifiers and the social defeat they create. Stop admiring and respecting those displaying status signifiers; start thinking of them as pathetic prisoners of a pathological mindset. Stop judging people as “lower value” based on their lack of status signifiers. Free your own mind from the toxic sociopathology of consumerism and social defeat. Stop watching commercial television and minimize your exposure to marketing and consumerist propaganda.

9. Vote in every election with an eye on rewarding honesty and truth and punishing empty promises. Unless the incumbent has renounced corporate contributions, unsustainable debt, financial tyranny and Central State encroachment of civil liberties, then vote against the incumbent, for they are just another lackey of the State-plutocracy partnership. Avoid voting for either the Demopublican or Republicrat branches of the plutocracy; vote for an independent or third party candidate.

Remember that resistance isn’t just about refusing to participate in pathological plutocracy; it’s about establishing a sustainable alternative to the unsustainable State-plutocracy partnership. When people say that voting for a third-party candidate is “wasting your vote,” reply that voting for either of the plutocrat parties is the real waste of a vote because their “leadership” is dooming the nation to destabilization and insolvency. As independents pick up more and more “wasted” votes, they shift from being “marginalized” to becoming powerful voices of honesty and transparency.

10. Stop supporting inflationary policies such as “money creation” by the Federal Reserve and Federal deficit borrowing. Act on your knowledge that inflation is theft and that the Federal Reserve is a private consortium of banks that is the enabler and protector of the parasitic financial aristocracy.

11. Become healthy, active and fit. Refuse to consume unhealthy junk and packaged food, refuse to squander much of your time in sedentary “consumption” of corporate entertainment and digital distraction, and devote your energy and time to mastery, new skills, developing social capital and friendships, projects you “own” and enterprises that benefit your true self-interest. Refuse to follow the marketing/media siren song into chronic ill-health, addiction and social defeat.

12. Embrace self-directed coherent plans and construct a resilient, diverse ecology of identity and meaning. Build a social ecology of positive, active, collaborative, non-pathological people of like minds and spirits. Be powerful via resistance, not powerless via complicity.

It’s easy to confuse faith and political ideology. We resist changing our understanding, as we experience this transition as instability and insecurity. But changing our minds does not require changing our faith; rather, the firmness of our faith—in our Creator, in truth, in prayer, in our ability to help others and prevail—is the bedrock that gives us the discipline and resolve to confront the brutal and unwelcome facts of our circumstances and make coherent plans accordingly.

What's wrong with consumerism? Kids are having the time of their lives in modern America with the latest entertainment like iPhones, Lady Gaga, Call of Duty, Captain America and other fun things. This is part of the soul of the younger hip generation, and lame, uptight rednecks and off-the-gridder survivalists need to understand and accept this.

Take a look at the culture around you Million Dollar Boner. Avoid facebook, Igadgets and get out and smell the roses. There is a whole lot of life enriching free stuff to do. Maybe even try to have a conversation with somebody. Read a good book, they are free at the local library.

Deep down I know God is a marginally useful myth. I compensate for this dissonance by personally acquiring the God-like power to efficiently kill and by garnering as much fear as I can amongst the living. In so doing, I will reveal the beauty of religion and by association, foster the myth of my own merit.

every man lives in his own temple, and in his temple he is the soul`master of his being and thoughts; his brothers keeper, have no such bearing within this creative template fortified by ones own mythological fortress, other than denying unity; for all,... it would seem only to worship immortality's vanities - the vestigial of inane indulgences knelling before thy very god, oneself; that hallows out echoed contrition's, and words that find solace only in the obscure presence of mythical deities such as oneself; whilst the naivete`pray in universal unity to another than themselves, knowing that their separatist temples are gathered up by the faithful unheard wings of windsong, the inexorable breath of the only god; something, so much greater and more humbling than thou, but one, reminiscent the 'music-of-the-spheres'; for legend, myth, or dogmatic solipsism that inquisitive conceptual 'i am, therefore i am',... "that begins with certainties, shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts he shall end in *[francis bacon /sic/ 1605] certainties"

It might be seen that way if you believe that government is not an extension of the people's will, but rather a separate abusive entity. Our naval gazing self centered negligence has enabled this situation to fester to the point where this is precisely what we have. A seperate entity no longer beholden to "We the People".......if it ever really was to begin with. At least in the past it was more responsive to "We the People" when we were angry.

It is not someone else's responsibility to "fix" this problem. It is mine and yours. What are we, each and every one of us, going to do about it?

Indeed. All the difference in the world lies between talking the talk and walking the walk.

I've personally completed 1 to 11, although I could probably boost my self-sufficiency more (for instance, I do not have my own garden yet, but aside from olives, capers, french mustard and a few other imported foodstuff, all of my food is either produced in the country I reside in, or even better, comes from the local farmer's market.

I went much farther on the point about voting, as I believe that doing so gives the appearance of legitimacy to an inherently corrupt process, hence I stopped participating in that entire theater. If participation rates dropped below 20-30% it would become obvious that none of the candidates could possibly have the consent of the governed.

As a nomad expat in central america, #12 is a bit hard, but it still looks 10 times better than it did when I was hanging around geek/gamer circles back home.

One thing that I can say about the process is that it is easier than you believe once you have taken the first step. As soon as you start seeing results, it also becomes both addictive and rewarding!

I have to admit that after my last pair of shoes ran out, I used my laziness as an excuse to walk around barefoot. As shoes are probably the main status symbol among teens and young adults, I was constantly countering lots of inquisitive "Where are your shoes?" with "I am wearing the best brand of shoes ever made". I could nearly see the gears turning in the head of little kids when I answered that, as they see gringos as the go-to fashion and lifestyle reference. I enjoyed feeling the bare earth and the grass beneath my feet, but messing with their heads was icing on the cake ;)

I believe Gov't was once an extension of the people's will but those days are long gone. Gov't has, like a virus, become something which seeks the destruction of the host, knowing that this in turn may bring about it's own demise.There is no 'will of the people' but only what Gov't 'wills the people to do', usually at the point of a gun. I can't see the overthrow of this system, it's going to come down on it's own. It's time to exit, stage right. I'd rather walk back into a burned out building with the thought of rebuilding than sit in it while it burns, hoping I survive.

I understand how you feel. However, many more world problems can be attributed to human nature. You still believe in human nature, right?

Others have felt the same way as you, but what they found when they actually read scripture (for example) is that God is not who they thought He is.

Incidentally, this was the central problem for the Jews when Jesus came. They were/are expecting a strong military king as the Messiah, someone like King David, to come kick out the Romans, and restore Jerusalem and the Temple. Jesus did not fit with their human expectations. By the way, they are still waiting.

I prefer to attribute all the world's problems, except for those that can be traced to natural forces (hurricanes, cyclones, earthquakes, etc.), to human nature. Suggesting that "religion" is to blame overlooks the fact that all humans have belief systems and adherence to those systems has consequences. Religions are among those belief systems, but are not the only ones. Some belief systems require acts that are harmful to others, such as ecoterrorists or Islamic fundamentalists. Other belief systems are willfully distorted or totally misunderstood and then used to justify similarly egregious acts - think Spanish Inquisition.

That said, there is at least one worldwide religion whose founders never suggested conquering via violence: Christianity. Unfortunaely, many who professed to follow that religion behaved in most un-Christian ways. They let their human nature overrule their faith.

Anybody who takes an honest look at themselves, and the world, understands that human beings are almost irredeemably awful. We are the only species that hunts and kills ourselves. When animals of the same species come into conflict with each other, they resolve their conflicts in ways that rarely cause permanent harm. Humans, on the other hand, not only slaughter each other, but take pleasure in it-- either active pleasure or vicarious pleasure...

Human beings love to blame almost everything else for their problems, except for themselves. Atheists and so-called "humanists" scoff at the idea of original sin, but what other explanation is there for our horrible behavior compared to the rest of the creatures on earth.

Jesus said it best-- it is not what goes into us (i.e. the outside world) that defiles us, but that which comes out of us. Matthew 15:11-21

You need to look up the behavior of chimpanzees, to start. Chimps routinely engage in complex, coordinated murders of chimps in other tribes. The killing is not done for food. It's done to display power, and to mark territory. To wit, the preferred murder victim is a chimp child that cannot defend itself.

Ants enslave other ants to work for them. Ant colonies will engage upon full-scale wars with other colonies in a display of logistics that would make the most veteran Generals jealous.

When a new male lion takes over a pride, he immediately kills all the cubs in the pride that were sired by the previous leader. This is done so that all the lionesses go into heat, and he can produce offspring from his genetic line.

The wolverine is noted for the apparent pleasure it takes in killing. Wolverines will routinely kill creatures, but then do nothing with the carcass. They don't eat it, they don't store it, they don't use it as a trap or a lure. They simply seem to enjoy killing. No scientist has yet been able to explain this behavior.

For a truly twisted example, look up "brood parasite." The Mafia did not begin in Sicily. It began with birds.

There are countless more examples. Nature is a VIOLENT, VIOLENT place. Just because the golf course looks nice and green, just because your postcard of the Rocky Mountains looks "beautiful," just because your dog (which is a just a domesticated wolf species variant) is a wonderful creature, doesn't obviate this fact. There's literally billions and billions of creatures engaging in violence right away so that they can perpetuate the life-cycles that they've been genetically encoded with.

Should human beings know better? Sure. So far as we can tell, and given the way that we define it, humans are the only animal on the planet that is sentient and sapient. Self-awareness should be enough for us to resolve our differences in a manner that doesn't involve violence. That hasn't proven to be the case though. It's sad but true. C'est la vie.

But spare us the '60s hippie "humans are the only animal that hurt each other" BS. Animals conduct inter- and intra-species violence upon each other all the time. Humans, by virtue of their intelligence, have simply taken the practice of that violence to a new level never before seen in the evolutionary history of the planet.

How many people today have the gall to REALLY do what it takes to shut this corrupt system down? Not many!! Most people still DESIRE the latest gadgets and will do anything to have them and they support this system...

And when was the last time that you heard or saw the concept of privacy publicly defended, or even privately defended for that matter? It chills me to the bone to see the vast majority of people today not only indifferent to the ongoing erosion of privacy, both at the hands of government as well as those of corporations, but who actively participate in it, and who seem almost eager to give up the last shreds of their privacy (Facebook, cellphone conversations in public, uncovered home windows at night, "black box" monitoring of driving habits in exchange for lower auto insurance rates, ubiquitous use of credit and debit cards instead of cash, etc. etc. etc.).

Collectively, we are not just being led by the nose into a total-surveillance world that even George Orwell never imagined in his worst nightmares, we are actually and eagerly running toward it. This world is rapidly becoming a place that I would not want to, and could not, live in, and sometimes in despair I wonder if suicide is not the logical, and only, final option.

The concepts of Freedom, Liberty, and Private Property only mean something if they apply to everyone.* What our children see us doing in Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, and Iran weaken any claims we have as a nation built on these concepts.

I have to disagree. Dreams are an important part of the motivation that leads us to change. Freedom, liberty and private property can start anywhere, within small circles of influence, to hopefully expand in recognition.

This battle has been thousands of years, a war fought by all those that would seek to escape the chains of monsters: The leaders of their societies. It has found its' greatest expression in those times when the Elite's control was hampered by population (black plague) or the need for more workers (industrialization).

True enlightenment is a result of education- which is the answer to the question of why we are taught such a limited curriculum. Information is controlled for a good reason. Once people realize how little they need government, regulation, law and banks- the chains fall by the wayside.

Life is not a utopia, it is a struggle for survival. Security and safety are fleeting, yet amirable qualities that minimize suffering. Societies provide opportunities to exploit these strengths and minimize the weaknesses. Unfortunately, it also allows for the exploitation of the same society through the accumulation of power and influence.

Thus, the answer lies in the construction of societies that eschew centralization and embrace decentralization. Groups that work together to accomplish community while defending the individual from authority.

This world is rapidly becoming a place that I would not want to, and could not, live in, and sometimes in despair I wonder if suicide is not the logical, and only, final option.

I agree with the first half, and while I certainly empathize with the second half, having wondered the same thing myself, I must respond by saying don't make it easy for 'them'. If I'm going down, I'm going to make 'them' take me down and make it as costly for 'them' as I possibly can.

Everybody gets one free last act if they have no concern for the consequences to themself.

Myself, I'll hold off on such a drastic act unless all other possibilities are exhausted, as I'd rather spend my time helping those I care about. Nevertheless, the last ace up the sleeve is always there.

I hope I did not give anyone the impression here that I was on the verge of suicide --- far from it --- but with current trends, and with the accelerating pace of those trends, I can readily foresee a time not too many years away when the degeneration of our society, and the destruction of our freedoms, will be so far advanced that there will be little left for a person such as myself to live for.

I can readily foresee a time not too many years away when the degeneration of our society, and the destruction of our freedoms, will be so far advanced that there will be little left for a person such as myself to live for.

The thoughtful person will prepare for such a time by reflecting upon not only what is worth living for, but also what is worth dying for.

I'm not so sure about the first one on your list. Many of the Christian God's followers have been some of the worst tyrants on Earth although many of the Islamic God's followers are trying to outdo them these days.

Don't confuse the teachings of a religion with the actions of those who profess to adhere to it. Christianity teaches that man is hopelessly unrighteous, and there are many who both claimed to be Christians and also ignored Christ's teachings. There is nothing in the New Testament to justify the actions of, say, the Spanish Inquisition, for instance. The Quran, on the other hand, does advocate violence as a legitimate action when a refusal to submit or convert is encountered.

Ann Barnhardt characterizes Islam as a political system, not as a religion. Which makes perfect sense, as any "religion" whose primary goal is to impose its will BY FORCE UNDER THREAT OF DEATH on other human beings is clearly concerned with political relationships and not spiritual ones.

Then why follow the teachings at all? Are not "teachings" the products and desemination of the leaders of a faith? Should we just then depend on the voice of God, to make himself known, even from the rocks themselves?

A religion is a reflection of its' teachings and how their followers express them. To begin with the concept of hopelessly unrighteous and the absolute failure of its' adherents is a cop out. If the teachings have not the power to change or modify behavior, then they are useless.

If the same teachings are wielded as a weapon to control and tax its' believers, what are the believers to make of that? That the rules have dual applications, depending on your position in the faith?

To extoll a set of beliefs and then release all its' practitioners of any responsibility in this lifetime is nothing more than a con.

Cash deposits are a liability to a bank. They have to pay you interest.

I understand your point, though, if the plan is to take out huge loans and then refuse to pay them back. But then again, that is what has happened with housing, and the Fed is bailing out the banks anyway.

Yeah, all that...except then "they" will change the rules further/faster. Cashless society, National ID with RFID chip, Report For Duty stations, 24/7/365 surveillance via cell phones/gps/auto....all this and more so that we can't escape their system.

13) Come to the Bahamas, buy a piece of land, work your field and catch your fish. You will never need heating, that's provided free of charge from the sun. If you are hot: go for a swim and cool off. If the oceans rise and you die..at least you've died in paradise.

Take care of the immediate family. Stop trying to grow grass and grow Food. Barter. Cash out FRN backed 401K. Buy Assets. Tools. Gold. Silver. Build an off grid solar panel system. Purchase wood burning stove. Build water storage system. Find like minded people and network. One caveat. You are now a terrorist in the eyes of the morally corrupt Federal System. Sic Semper Tyrannus!

get a motorcycle driver's license and buy a 100 MPG scooter. Do not buy a new car, but if you have to, avoid GM especially (why finance BHO's reelection?).

Learn to grow medicinal herbs and to make extracts out of them. Learn how to make beer, wine, and other fermented things. Learn how to propogate yeast. All of your prepper neighbors with hundreds of pounds of flour won't be able to do much without yeast.

13. Do not make enough money to owe taxes. or child support. or your contribution to healthcare. get on every subsidy you can. spending all your effort on this might take up all your time so that you make faulty nuclear reactors, or dont have time to help repair them before they cause an ELE. If you have employees, make sure you pay the tax attorneys and 501c3 types more than engineering and production folks.

... err, wait, thats General Electric. The epitome of what is wrong with the status quo. I am so confused.

I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.

For example, the revenue stream from parking meters is financialized into an asset that is sold to a private corporation. When parking fees double, the residents of the city have no recourse via democracy or petition, as the meters in their city are now “owned” by a distant concentration of capital that can double late fees, charge outrageous transaction costs, etc., at will.

It can get worse, when those corps turn around and sell the meters back to the state for a huge capital gain, after they have presumably increased the NPV with a higher future income stream. The corps then arrange financing for the state to leverage the buyback, again at public expense.

Well, I would recommend Real Estate but the States and Countys are trying to conficate it one piece at a time thru exorbitant Property Taxes. Pay $100,000. for a property? In 15 years you will have to pay another $100,000 in property taxes just to keep it.

I read Charles Hugh Smith's book "Investing for Troubled Times." I liked it, but I have the following friendly criticisms.

I think it was written in a way that is a little too conversational. Admittedly, I spend most of my reading time in technical or mathematical stuff because of my job, so I tend to lose patience with lots of "words." But I think his thoughts were extremely qualitative, and perhaps a bit rambling.

The book, in short, had a way of seeming like a really, really long blog post.

If it had been more concise, like the above article, it would have been even better. Still, it was good, and definitely worth reading. So I recommend it.

ZH is all over the board. I tend to see you guys as Uber Capitalists, not because you run some TBTF bank, but because you believe in capitalism and the free market. I tend to see ideologues as easy to manipulate. That is, if you believe capitalism/free markets are the keys to prosperity and happiness, all the thieves have to do is paint sensible regulation of the markets (say to reduce thievery) as an afront to the free market and I would expect your knees to jerk. That you would publish this anti-capitalism admonition suggests a broader view than I would expect. CHS comes very close to speaking for the 99. Thank you.